The Arrival of Alfred

    The day had dawned bright and sunny. My task was set before me, granted it was a task I had set for myself, but nonetheless(how cool is it that this is one word) I had a task. For two whole days I had been searching the website petfinder.com in order to find my family the perfect dog. I would be going back to college in a few short weeks and I knew my parents would need a new pet to take my place. Yes I realize I am comparing myself to an animal, but truthfully there isn't that much difference between having me around and having a dog around. I will have bouts of sporadic activity, coupled with naps that last all afternoon. And yeah, occasionally I will bark all night at apparently nothing. My family needed a dog, and fast.

Erma

   We had to get a new dog because our totally awesome dog Erma Lavonne had just been put to sleep. We had gotten her right before my seventh birthday, and she became my best friend. Erma and I played together all the time, and when it rained we would sit in her dog house together. This was not a big doghouse, but it was before I hit my fat stage and she was still a puppy, so we both could fit inside comfortably. For twelve years she was constantly at my side, ready for whatever crazy adventure we would be going on. I don't want to go into detail because it's super depressing, but her body started to wear out and she just wasn't herself and so we had to say goodbye. When we had to put her to sleep it was one of the worst days of my life, and I hugged her closely when they came in to inject her. Going home to an empty front yard was not something I looked forward too, so even though the pain was still fresh I knew we had to find another dog.

Francis still needs a home!

    Looking for a new pet to adopt is a lot of fun, but it's also really difficult. What if the dog doesn't like you? What if you don't like the dog? Suppose you take the dog home and let it become a part of the family but then it uses its knowledge of your darkest secrets against you...what then?!?!? I had finally narrowed it down to a couple of choices, two dogs that looked really trustworthy and like they wouldn't use your secrets against you. Maggie was a black lab that looked almost exactly like Erma, she had sweet disposition written all over her. And Francis was a coonhound that looked really gangly, and I could just see her gangling around our yard. So I called the Veterinary clinic that had Maggie, and I found out she had been looked at and was probably getting adopted. I was happy for her finding a home, but secretly I cursed the people who got to her before me. Now I was going to end up with some psycho dog and we'd have to name him Norman Bates. I called the pet rescue that had Francis and set up an appointment to meet with her. The rescue center wasn't too excited that we lived on a farm and planned to let the dog run free outside all the time(people will often steal dogs when they run free...how gross is that), but they thought a farm might be an okay place for her.
   As I excitedly told my dad that we were going to meet Francis in a few days, the phone rang. I figured it was the pet rescue to tell us that Francis turned out to be a CIA dog who could shoot a gun(which would have been AWESOME!)but it was the Veterinary clinic. They told us about a different black lab who had wandered up to the farm of an old couple a few miles away from Walnut Grove. She gave us their phone number and told us to give it a shot. You should know I have pretty good phone etiquette, I'm not sure how I picked that up but it's probably genetic. Even though I have good etiquette I really hate calling up people I don't know, nonetheless(love this word!) I called and a sweet old lady answered. I'm telling you, she could have been a salesperson. She listed all the best qualities of this dog, how he could stay inside and really behave himself, he left the cats alone, and he was really good at fetch. I felt like she was selling me a car, but she was so good at it that I couldn't wait to take him for a test drive. We set up a time to go meet the dog, but my dad knew they wouldn't let us leave without taking him with us. Sadly I thought of never getting to meet the gangly Francis.

Good doggie!

    Walnut Grove is a good hour and a half away from where I live, and my parents thought it might be fun to take along their friends on this long journey. So we all crammed into my dad's pickup, my mom, my dad, Gary the mountain man, Arlene the Garden Queen, and myself. The dog would go in the back of the pickup inside a very nice kennel. Soon we arrived at the address and were welcomed inside to meet the dog. A huge pile of black fur was sitting on the floor looking up at my with very serious eyes. This dog was the biggest black lab I had ever seen. I knelt down on the floor to get to know him a little better, and he rolled over for me to rub his tummy, just like Erma used to do. I patted him on the head and told my dad we had to take him home with us.

The most interesting car ride ever.

     The ride home was the most hectic car ride I have ever been on. We couldn't put him in the kennel in the back because it was pouring down rain. So he got to sit in the back seat with my mom and I as three grown adults squeezed into the front seat of the pick-up. The dog kept sticking his nose up front and licking Arlene's ears and neck, sniffing Gary's face, and sticking his head on my dad's shoulder. Then he would pace back and forth between my mom and I, which was no small feat as this dog was about the same size as the back seat. The whole ride home was spent in a hectic frenzy, which was mostly the dog sniffing and licking Arlene. Everyone was laughing so hard, that it kept getting him excited and he would start all over again. After two hours of his pacing and affectionate licking, we got him home.

Making trouble..as usual

       It took awhile but we finally decided to name our new dog Alfred, or Alfie for short. He is psychotic, but his heart is in the right place. Alfie loves to go for car rides, something Erma never liked to do. Sometimes he makes me so mad I just want to lock him up in his kennel forever, but then he looks at me with his big sad eyes and I know he is sorry. Often times I have to remind myself that he is not Erma, and I can't expect him to be like her. As tough as it is to lose your best friend, it can be even tougher to let someone take their place. The last time I was home I spent some time outside shoveling the sidewalk, and Alfie stood in the snow watching me. Taking a huge scoop of snow I threw it on top of  him, and he was so excited he pranced around catching the snow in his mouth. With a big smile on my face I took another scoop and dumped it all on top of him....the crazy idiot.